Most of us will know that one person. The person you only hear from when they want something from you.

They contact you out of the blue and the conversation is over as quickly as it began. They never really show interest in you, ask how you’re feeling, or come to your house. Instead, the expectation is always you come to them. They won’t ask how they can help. Instead, they ask you for money. It’s always all about them.

Businesses definitely shouldn’t be treating their customers that way – no matter how sought after their products and solutions, no matter the gravitational pull of their brand and any kudos customers earn from associations with them. Why? Well, it’s quite simple: life can turn on a dime resulting in the mask slipping, the halo falling if absolute focus and attention to detail are not maintained.

Who could genuinely have foretold the magnitude of what would unfold around us through 2020? Even the most prepared organizations on the planet were and continue to be put through the wringer. The IMF estimates that the global economy shrunk by 4.4% in 2020, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. There are recessions and then there is this.

In every recession, marketers find themselves in poorly charted waters because no two downturns are alike but the need to understand the evolving consumption patterns and the importance of fine-tuning strategies accordingly cannot be underestimated.

The marketing line item in an enterprise’s budget can be a very tempting one to slash, running a red pen through much of it, but hard and deep cuts to the marketing budget can hurt any business long-term, even if they may provide a level of immediate relief.

 

Investing in your future with A2P messaging

 

From the moment you first engage with a potential client to the time they become a regular purchaser (and everything in-between), you need to be delivering content they value, at a frequency they are comfortable with, using channels they are both familiar and comfortable with. Not all channels are built equal though.

Much of Mitto’s business has been built on the back of the trusted SMS. Now in its 29th years, SMS is ubiquitous and something billions of people feel comfortable with. Approximately 2.5 billion people around the world receive marketing or transactional content from businesses each month via SMS.

When the chips are down and your back is against the wall, SMS should be something you continue to use well. It’s tempting to drop it in favor of email where possible but no mobile digital channel taken in isolation gets attention as SMS does. Well over 95% of messages are read, the majority within five minutes of their delivery.

While globally there are more monthly chat app users than SMS, that does not translate over into the world of Application-to-Person (A2P) business messaging: A2P oriented chat app solutions (such as WhatsApp Business) may not have the level of traction SMS does but they are likewise very powerful, particularly when it comes to keeping younger audiences engaged. The price for this type of solution might be higher than SMS but it does provide a delivery mechanism for much richer content. Don’t forget that.

 

Projecting strength in an economic downturn

 

Marketing is far more than advertising. When the business environment is challenging, your brand story needs to be reinforced, shaped to align with the climate. Messaging strategies need to move well beyond just being informative to being sensitive and empathetic.

Cutting down spend on channels such as A2P SMS and chat apps overnight is an existentially dangerous move for your business as it risks your customers wondering where you went or (even worse) thinking your business is in real trouble and on the verge of folding. You never want to let your customers feel abandoned because we can guarantee there are competitors just waiting to pick up the pieces. Keeping up the conversations with your clients is not a treat, it’s not something that can be postponed and it definitely isn’t expendable. It’s an investment that delivers great returns.

You need a reliable content delivery partner in your corner. A provider that reaches your customers wherever they may be, offering messaging across familiar channels in one neat omnichannel wrapper. And Mitto is just that partner. We allow you to get on with your business, engaging throughout the